I have been reliably informed by many of my florist friends that this year, in protest of the sky high price of red roses, valentines day will be mostly purple!

I’m not sure how well the public at large will understand this concept but personally I love so many different flowers and hardly ever receive them. So for me I would love a seasonal bouquet of any spring bulbs with twigs, preferably twisted willow!

Whatever you choose, please order them from your local independent florist and try to order as soon as possible to give them the best possible chance of sourcing the most beautiful flowers at the best prices. Let me share with you some of the most beautiful flowers, bouquets and ideas I have found and featured on our Beautiful Great British Independents Facebook page over this last couple of weeks.

Bring the outdoors in by Handties Floral Studio

Moyses Stevens at Harrods

Seasonal Whimsy from Hannah Burnett

Wild Seasonal Arrangement from Jo Flowers

A Valentines Door Wreath from Dreamweavers

Heart Bouquet from Agapanthus Penzance

Country Syle Hand Tie from Zu Zu’s Petals

Candelabra from The Flower Mill

Amethyst Vintage Style Bucket from The Flower Studio

Please can we marry him from Willow Floristry

Hellebore from Blue Geranium

Black Jack Tulips from Blue Geranium

I started my research by sharing the first gorgeous lilac and green bouquet from Handties Floral Studio, whose owner, Michael Parleto assured me that this year purple and lime are very much en trend, regardless of Valentines Day. Our page fans loved it and virtually all said they would love this type of bouquet and colorway for Valentines.

I have to confess to not even checking the price of the Moyses Stevens bouquet, although Philip and Don from Blue Geranium (Don actually worked with Moyses Stevens back in 2003) assured me that even they would have to charge around £120 for something that manificent. However, they could easily do a beautiful bouquet, using the same flowers but roughly a quarter of the size, gift wrapped for around £40.

I absolutely adore the next two bouquets from Hannah Burnett and Jo Flowers but then I just adore whimsy and Jo Flowers has to be one of my favorite florists.

Seasonal Whimsy from Hannah Burnett

Wild Seasonal Arrangement from Jo Flowers

This door wreath from Dreamweavers Wedding Venues would make a gorgeous valentines gift … imagine coming home and finding that or something similar on your front door (swoon) … and although the bouquet from Agapanthus is a wedding bouquet, the heart shape would be so fitting for valentines day. Come on boys, use your imagination and talk to your local independent florist for inspiration and ideas on putting the most thoughtful gift you can together.

A Valentines Door Wreath from Dreamweavers

Heart Bouquet from Agapanthus Penzance

For those of you who are married, why not take a snap of your wedding flowers in with you and have something designed to reflect them in some way.

If you really have no ide of your significant others taste in flowers, why not take a couple of snaps of her favorite rooms to the florist with you. Come on … let’s get creative and show them just how much we love them.

“We always offer more country style posy for Valentines, excluding any Red from a cost point of view and secondly, the soft pastel colours are what my customers want, and me too!! I try to keep my look whatever the time of year and also run with what’s seasonal.”

Country Syle Hand Tie from Zu Zu’s Petals

Candelabra from The Flower Mill

A romantic candlelit dinner cooked by a significant other is always well recieved IF it’s not something you do every week. That said, it wouldn’t matter whether the dinner was burnt beans on toast (Yes I have been served that in the past!!!) IF the table centre looked like the one featured from the Flower Mill.

Do you already have a candelabra or a special something tucked away that wouldn’t be missed if you sneaked it out of the house … take it to your local florist and ask what they can do with it … remember snaps of wedding flowers or where it will be placed are invaluable to get the look that just hits the spot!

How about matching flowers and dog! … No seriously, depending upon how well trained your pooch is, get him to greet her at the door, wearing flowers and holding a card or special gift in his teeth. I just love “Please can we marry him” from Willow Floristry. For those of you already married for a number of years why not book a date for re-newing your wedding vows (Just a tip though guys … give her plenty of notice!)

Amethyst Vintage Style Bucket from The Flower Studio

Please can we marry him from Willow Floristry

OK so you still think Valetines Day should be red. Well, the gorgeous vintage style bucket from The Flower Studio is also available in reds …

Hellebore from Blue Geranium

Black Jack Tulips from Blue Geranium

And what happens with colour if we combine shades of red with shades of purple …shades of plum (yum yum) … the hellebore and Black Jack tulips from Blue Geranium are just divine. Now I also have a sneaky insight here from Philip Thornford of Blue Geranium … would you like to hear it?

….

“I’ve heard on the grape vine that UK wholesalers have warned the Dutch that red roses will be a big no-no this year for St Valentine’s. This could have a double edged problem – price of red roses being much cheaper than anticipated, but orders for non-red flowers being greater and other colours being higher in price”

Philip also told us …..

“For the past 6 years Blue Geranium has provided more non-red rose bouquets for St Valentine’s.”

So what do we do????!!!!!

We do what we know will show how much we really love and appreciate our significant other no matter what the cost … even a few of her favorite blooms in a recycled jam jar or tin if that is your budget, with a beautifully thought out note tied to it will bring her to her knees … I can’t actually believe I just said that :o!

Let me give you an example though before you choose the red rose route of what you can expect to get for your money … this from Amy Curtis Floristry …

“Mixed hand ties start from £30 but that is more the £45 ish because of spray rose variety used but we buy the best quality at the best prices varying content depending on what is available to offer best value for money we can”

I asked Amy what would a red rose option cost and look like and here is her response …

“I have 6 red from £34.99 BUT offer deluxe price points where the rose quality and Stem length head size increase. The floristry industry is facing so much competition from multi national retailers not just the supermarkets but now even from within our own industry from order gatherers and relay companies. It really is about shopping wisely and choosing an independent, experienced or highly qualified florist that can design intelligently within the market availability for the consumer to achieve value for money, a personal service and great design!”

Amy Curtis Floristry Seasonal Handtie

Amy Curtis Floristry Valentine Bouquet

Yes I think I’ll take the seasonal hand tie please!

… and Philip from Blue Geranuium gave me another snippet … most men prefer one of the 3 primary colours when choosing flowers and prefer solid blocks of colour! … SO MEN … remember you are choosing flowers for her not yourself!!!! … unless you are a man choosing for your man … in which case this may be a very important factor for you to consider!

The lovely Philip and Donald from the gorgeous Blue Geranium

So here it is … the traditional Valentines bouquet of red roses:

Roses are Red my Love!!! … HOW MUCH???? … expect to pay between £150 and £190 depending upon the type of rose!

Whatever you choose and whatever you do, have a wonderful Valentines day … Always With Love … Denise xx

This is a refreshing post! I do not like the “commercial” and expected expectations of sending roses on Valentine’s Day. I would much prefer receiving flowers on an ordinary day with some thought. I do like the idea of purple flowers!

I would love to get purple flowers! I think mostly because it would be different. My favorite color is blue, so I would not have a problem with that either! LOL.
And yes, shop local! Independent consultants, like myself, count too! I always buy from local shops before big box stores!

Love the article! I love red roses and red in general for valentines day. I don’t think purple would make it feel the same way for me. I love love love the door wreaths, I have been seeing them a lot more lately and I think they look great!

Thanks Kungphoo glad you enjoyed the article. It actually took over a week to research and 3 days to write and I know it wasn’t one of my best literary pieces … In the end I gave up re-hashing and just crossed my fingers and hit the “publish” button!

I love door wreaths and think every door should have one every day of the year using seasonal flowers and foliage.

It’s funny but the closer it is getting to Valentines Day, the more I am being drawn to red roses!!!!

I wonder if it will be like every year when people say I’m not buying Christmas presents this year and then can’t help themselves at the last minute.

Maybe we are all saying we prefer all of these different flowers and at the last minute we will change our minds … then when our significant other arrives without the red roses, somewhere deep down we will be dissapointed!

This is very important that we all support each other in our local community. I don’t believe in competition but I know that there’s plenty of opportunity for all of us. We just need to put ourselves in the abundance mentality. Thanks for the great post!

As a florist I like all flowers, and I should not say this but I will red roses are to expensive at valentines and I would rather have an normal bouquet of different colours at valentines than red……. plus I think red is getting old at valentines now….. be different and order some thing different for valentines day……..

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